Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Freight Train from August 14

TEHRAN (FNA)- Director of Pakistan Railways Shafiqullah said Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul international freight train will leave Islamabad on August 14.

Speaking to the Islamic republic news agency on Thursday, the official said that planned train service will be operated as pilot project of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in line with agreement signed by the three countries in March this year. "The train will run on trial basis and in future after removing all the bottlenecks the project would be finally started," he made it clear. "We want to make it a ceremonial occasion to launch the container train service from Islamabad on August 14, the independence day of Pakistan," he added. He said the service would be of great advantage to the business community of Pakistan, Turkey and Iran because earlier the containers used to be sent to Karachi by ship and after unloading were sent forward to respective destinations in the country either by road or rail and this was costing them quite high. Earlier Pakistani Minister for Railways Haji Gholam Ahmed Bilour had said that Iran will provide trans-shipment facilities in Zahedan till a standard gauge line is laid between Zahedan and Mirjaveh. Bilour said that Pakistan Railways is trying to improve the section, but it requires massive investment. He said out of total 6,506 kilometers Islamabad-Istanbul rail track, the train service covers about 1,900 km of the distance in Pakistan, 2,570 km in Iran and 2,036 km in Turkey. The minister said that Turkey and Iran already have railway link up at their borders and both have freight and passenger train services. "We are trying to line up soft credit with international financial institutions to resolve the issue related to rail gauge between Pakistan and Iran before it is made a full-grown train service," Bilour added. He said that the freight train would initially be dedicated for the transportation of cargo containers and would eventually include other goods and passenger services. Bilour said that by the time, the pilot freight train service got matured; other ECO member countries including Afghanistan might also join it.